Big Four accounting firms escalate hiring of techies amid digital focus

Areas such as AI, cloud computing, data analytics and cybersecurity see 'significant hiring'

The Big Four accounting firms have increased the hiring of people from technology backgrounds in India amid an increased focus of their clients on digital transformation, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic.

EY India said that it has expanded its overall tech talent pool by 3x in the last three years across service lines including consulting, tax, assurance, and strategy & transactions.

“Today over 50 per cent of our workforce is from STEM and technology background,” it said, adding that it continues to hire significantly in the areas of AI, cloud computing, data analytics and cybersecurity to help its clients in transformation.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Deloitte India, another Big Four firm, said that before the Covid-19 pandemic, 25 per cent of its total staff was from a tech background. Now, this number has increased to 46 per cent.

“Technology and digital transformation are essential to fuel growth both within our organisation and the solutions we create to address client challenges,” said Deepti Sagar, chief people and experience officer at Deloitte India.

“Our tech hiring is geared to these realities.”

Akhilesh Tuteja, partner and national leader of Technology, Media & Telecommunications at KPMG in India added that over the past few years, they have grown the tech talent pool by 20-25 per cent year-on-year.

PwC India said digital transformation has led to increased demand for technology professionals who can drive innovation and efficiency within various sectors, including but not limited to technology services.

“PwC continues to invest in areas of Business Transformation, Cybersecurity, ESG, Data Analytics and Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Cloud Computing and Digital Transformation,” said Shirin Sehgal, chief people officer at PwC India.

“Our talent strategy is aligned to market realities, the needs of our clients and our needs within the firm.”

These firms said that tech skills today are not required just in the traditionally technology-driven functions, but also to improve how other functions take place.

Deloitte India said that apart from hiring new techies, there is also a focus on training incoming and existing professionals in new and emerging technologies.

“We are adopting a persona-based training,” said Sagar.

PwC India also said that it stays “committed to our investments in digital upskilling of our workforce”.

The companies said that tech hiring may stay high for some time, especially in areas like artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and cloud computing.

“We are constantly looking to hire fresh talent specialising in advanced analytics, cybersecurity and such specialised talent may not always be easily available at scale through lateral hires, so the demand for tech talent will continue to remain high,” said Tuteja.

“As emerging technologies like AI continue to disrupt the way we work, we expect the demand for technology talent will grow even more,” said EY India.

Sehgal of PwC India added, “It is reasonable to anticipate that the demand for technology professionals will continue to remain high.”